Agreed, but I have seen other tapes of him playing AAU and he is still a beast… but you r right. A lot more fun to watch a competitive game. I like his game tho, and think he would fit it well.

Davidintn

Sorry, he looked soft in this video.Not very smooth and when he goes up for a dunk there is no,how can i put it no desire to break the rim.he is 6″9′ and should play like it.He needs a little mean streak.If he don’t get one he will never make it in the big ten.granted. he is only a junior.So he has time to learn.

IUfanPurduePhD

I almost watched this video twice, just so I could try and figure out what the center court logo is. Satanic goat?

N71

Yes, that is correct. It is not uncommon in Kentucky to have an appreciation for both Satan and goats but to blend both into a single school mascot is considered something special in the area. Like the leprechaun is to Notre Dame, satan, goats, 3 legged dogs, banjos, toothless smiles, 1970’s ventage F150’s, and illegate recruiting hold a special place to residence of Kentucky.

Anonymous

I agree that he does look a little soft from time to time. But one thing i do like is that he seems to always be looking for the offensive boards. Even when he was on the perimeter, if the shot went up, he made a straight shot to the hoop and tried to get position. I think he has a good eye for the ball. There were also a couple great looking passes that caught my eye. He may not be a dominant player for us, but i think Crean can get some good production out of him.

Anonymous

I agree that he does look a little soft from time to time. But one thing i do like is that he seems to always be looking for the offensive boards. Even when he was on the perimeter, if the shot went up, he made a straight shot to the hoop and tried to get position. I think he has a good eye for the ball. There were also a couple great looking passes that caught my eye. He may not be a dominant player for us, but i think Crean can get some good production out of him.

Anonymous

First I’ve seen of Willis. Couple of thoughts:

+really impressive footwork. For a 6’9″ kid to move like that I see why he’s borderline 5*
+more aggressive than I thought. Like how he attacks the basket and rebounds for a 3/4 hybrid.
+looks like he’s got good hands.
+I think he’s a combo forward, 3/4 hybrid, stretch 4, whatever you wanna call it. He’s not a post player and never will be. His frame is too small and It’s not going to add weight like an Elston or Pritchard. But with his range and ball handling that’s fine.

I think he’s somewhat comparable to Watford. They’re both 6’9″, more comfortable on the perimeter, good outside shooters. Looks like he’s a bit more aggressive in attacking the basket than when Watford first arrived.

RainCityHoosier

@N71 – LMFAO. That got my morning off to a good start. Hah!

cdog

I still think our top choice should be BeeJay Anya. Could you imagine him at center, Cody at the PF, and Yogi running the show? Now you are talking a team that can go on the road and be expected to get some wins. This is NC/Duke type talent. Willis and Fischer are both nice players, but they are not elite like Anya. Victor needs to show him the way to Bloomington. I haven’t heard any excitement from Willis regarding IU’s big win on Saturday. Did he come to see KY?

cdog

I still think our top choice should be BeeJay Anya. Could you imagine him at center, Cody at the PF, and Yogi running the show? Now you are talking a team that can go on the road and be expected to get some wins. This is NC/Duke type talent. Willis and Fischer are both nice players, but they are not elite like Anya. Victor needs to show him the way to Bloomington. I haven’t heard any excitement from Willis regarding IU’s big win on Saturday. Did he come to see KY?

Talked to Willis last night. He’s a quiet kid, but he was impressed with the atmosphere.

JohnFromBeyond

I like his ball handling skills and the fact that he dunks every chance he gets.

markus44

I really like Willis. Looks like he has great feet and hands. Would be a solid player.

markus44

I really like Willis. Looks like he has great feet and hands. Would be a solid player.

Anonymous

It seems like Anya is a stretch, he has basically opened his recruitment to everyone. To me, it looks like we have a great shot at landing Willis though, and I think he would push Perrea for a starting spot as a freshman. If we can lock down Willis and Lyle in 13/14, we will have the pieces to make another title run in 14 (depending on who goes to the NBA early).

nakedsamurai

You can start to see why the rumors about his father adoring the attention of recruiters might be true. His son is far, far better than anyone on the floor and probably has his schoold in awe.

nakedsamurai

Agree completely. If I had two things I’d like this team to get:

1) Go-to perimeter scorer
2) Big bodies to bang down low

The former may take care of itself / already be done.

The second will make this team extremely hard to beat. Anya looks terrific in this regard.

jgon86

We need to go after him hard. We just need him to visit bloomington, and everything else will fall into place. The way victor has improved leaps and bounds is direct proof that Coach Crean can develop him as well. Plus Cody having huge success also shows that big men can do well in Coach Crean’s system.

jgon86

We need to go after him hard. We just need him to visit bloomington, and everything else will fall into place. The way victor has improved leaps and bounds is direct proof that Coach Crean can develop him as well. Plus Cody having huge success also shows that big men can do well in Coach Crean’s system.

Anonymous

I think I’d rather have Willis’ offense, than Anya’s defense…….This year’s team is dangerous because all 5 guys can score, and you can’t cheat off any of them. Willis brings that aspect. When Zeller leaves, imagine Anya and Jurkin on the floor together, sure we might make it tough to score on D, but I bet we experience some droughts of our own. That being said Anya is an intimidating beast of a player, and I would be very happy to get him, I just think Willis is the higher rated player in some services for good reason

jgon86

I agree Miamihoosier. I’m just saying if we had to choose I would prefer Anya, because he makes us more versatile.

Anonymous

I get your point about the type of player but keep in mind that Willis is elite:

Willis and Anya are different types of players with very different styles. But Willis is every bit as elite as Anya.

mac1

I would take Willlis in a heartbeat!

mac1

I would take Willlis in a heartbeat!

TonyGonzo

After seeing this video, I must say that I’m surprised he has such a high rating from the recruiting services. He doesn’t look very smooth out there, almost to the point that it’s awkward. He’s like the anti-Jeremy Hollowell. Also, is Willis really 6 foot 9? He doesn’t look that tall to me, even against those short kids.

stonaroni

This kid is a JR so he is probably 6’8 by the time he hits a college campus he will be 6’9″. Some say he is soft, but the kid is 16. He will put on 25 pounds by the time he graduates in a year. Plus another 10 to 15 by the time he is a FR at IU.

I like his feet, seems to have a good bounce and quickness about him. He has a great FT stroke for a big kid, seems to have some touch too on his shots which can be hard for big guys to develop. Seems like a solid passer and has good overall coordination and body control.

I think he could be a legit 4 some day and be the type of beef we need on the blocks crashing boards or stepping out to hit some 16′ jumpers, Matt Nover style. No way he plays the 3. There will be VO, WS, AE, Hollowell, Buss, potentially Mo, Hartman and Davis playing the 3.

I like Davis from Indy, but this kid is better. If we could get him in 2013 with Hartman and Davis, that would give us another great ‘glue’ class in between 2012 studs and 2014 studs. And another Louisville area kid in candystripes.

Aceman_Mujezinovic_07

He seems to have pretty good ball skills for a big but was able to simply dominate with his size during these highlights. There wasn’t anyone big enough to stop him from rebounding a ball if he was close.

Aceman_Mujezinovic_07

He seems to have pretty good ball skills for a big but was able to simply dominate with his size during these highlights. There wasn’t anyone big enough to stop him from rebounding a ball if he was close.

Anonymous

Aparently, that’s a “Charger.” My girlfriend went to Bullitt East and played ball for them for 4 years in that gym: she’s gonna love the Satanic goat comment.

Not quite our GCS Warriors from high school, huh IUfan?

I agree with DarkSouth, this kid fits as a 3/4 combo, probably not going to get those post looks in college without adding some bulk, but it appears that the other team respects his shot from deep and he doesn’t seem afraid to take it. This guy would probably fit in well with what Creen has shown us so far at Indiana. I still think BeeJay would be huge for us, no pun intended, but this kid has a more complete game.

Also like stealing one from Purdue, no offense IUfan. It’s not my fault you didn’t choose a REAL graduate institution 🙂

IUfanPurduePhD

Well, sir, if you recall, I was voted Mr. School Spirit, so GCS Warrior > Satanic goat. 🙂

Just because I got two grad degrees from PUke doesn’t mean that I like them in collegiate sports. Quite the opposite, in fact; I almost always root for them to lose (except sometimes in non-conference play, but only because a strong B1G makes IU look better). I don’t even own an article of clothing that says “Purdue” on it — not one.

I’m on board with Anya — we need beef down low. I don’t know if there’s much that Willis does that Hollowell and Hartman can’t do. I’m not knocking Willis — I’m sure he’ll be a very good player — but will a front court of Cody and Hanner be able to impose their will? And although I don’t think Cody is a one-and-done, I think we might only have Hanner for two years, so Anya would be a more serviceable replacement.

I’m guessing this is McKnight?

eph521

Were you also voted Class Clown? I’m just making a wild guess. 🙂

eph521

Were you also voted Class Clown? I’m just making a wild guess. 🙂

Wyatt18

Let’s not forget about cliff alexander either

Anonymous

Good guess MC. I put it together after your comment on growing up in the dirty south.

ITH brings us together.

Forget the and/or stuff, I agree with others that we have a better shot at Willis and I always remember the old adage that the scholy situation will work itself out – recruit them both! I see BeeJay as a one-year player and Willis as taking a year or two to bulk up. Also, Cody will still be there, I’ll be shocked otherwise. We’re filling two to three positions there, depending on how Willis develops.

BTW, I think IUfan was class clown, probably city of New Albany clown. Ball so hard.

IUfanPurduePhD

Yes, actually. (You have to have a serious sense of humor [ha!] to be a die-hard IU fan and get degrees / paychecks from Purdue.)

Anonymous

No outstanding moves..just finished around the rim…but good size and movement. I’d say visiting a KY kid in KY a couple of days after beating UK was a pretty good recruiting move by Team Crean.

Anonymous

No outstanding moves..just finished around the rim…but good size and movement. I’d say visiting a KY kid in KY a couple of days after beating UK was a pretty good recruiting move by Team Crean.

IUfanPurduePhD

Mr. Most Likely to Succeed: greetings! We should’ve hooped it up and played PhDs vs. MDs when I was at PUke and you were at IUPUI (my team would’ve lost because we had a UK fan who thought he was super good when he was probably worse than me — for realz).

I forgot about Jurkin. If he can put on weight like Cody has, maybe he can hold the five-spot and Willis could play the three. I don’t know if I can get aboard the scholarship-situation-will-work-itself-out train when we’re already oversigned for 2012. I know it will work itself out, but I don’t want to start a trend of guys transferring every year. I do agree, however, that we have a better shot at Willis than Anya, so I think we should continue to recruit them both (but only sign one). I think I still see too many similarities between Hartman, Davis, and Willis. I won’t let the win over pUKe spoil me, though; I’d still take all of ’em.

Where are you these days? Still in Indy? I’ve got a gig at a state school just outside Grand Rapids, but it’s only a temporary post, so I’ll likely be elsewhere in a couple of years.Did you know that Mr. Erwin also found me on here, too? He replied to a post of mine with a joke about Dub-Dubs. Classic!

HoosierSmitty

I agree with just about all your points, so I’ll just add that I thought he had a good eye for his teammates, too, based on the video. He made some nice passes and I think he’d be a nice addition to the program.

HoosierSmitty

My guess is that he’s still growing into his body. I thought he moved pretty well for a young kid his size who is still maturing and developing.

HoosierSmitty

I don’t see how we land this Willis kid. I mean Kentucky has a playboy model getting trampled by our fans and Ashley Judd. Oh wait, they’re the only two attractive people with UK ties? Nevermind.

ufo3

Satanic Goat at center court?

ufo3

Satanic Goat at center court?

Anonymous

lmao

Very well put my IU bball friend. Very well put.

Anonymous

Agree, instead of just getting good position and going up strong and grabbing it he seemed to just reach and tip it to himself at times. That will work for the most part against the level of competition he was playing against in this clip but when he tries that at the next level it’s not going to work, even against most of the preconference cupcakes.

Having said that though, like you said, seems to have good basic skills and the biggest thing is how much will he listen and take it in and how hard will he work to get better.

Anonymous

Agree, instead of just getting good position and going up strong and grabbing it he seemed to just reach and tip it to himself at times. That will work for the most part against the level of competition he was playing against in this clip but when he tries that at the next level it’s not going to work, even against most of the preconference cupcakes.

Having said that though, like you said, seems to have good basic skills and the biggest thing is how much will he listen and take it in and how hard will he work to get better.

Keith Kelso

I’m from Washington and he looks to be every bit as good as Cody was his junior year. I’m not saying he’s the next Cody Zeller by any means but he sure looks good to me.

Southern_Indianas_Finest

Sup bro, sorry about the delay but I’ve been abroad and I didn’t want to upset Alex or the other ITH crew by playing catch-up on the boards. Glad to hear from you and see you are doing really well.

Funny you mention Erwin, he was my roomie for a year when I moved from Bloomington to Indy. What was his name on here? I’d like to find him and his witty posts.

I’m living in the Louisville Highlands and battling UK fans left and right. I just took a job at Clark Memorial in Indiana. Getting married in June.

I wish we had been able to play some ball! I’m terrible but our team was awesome. That’s our picture on the left taken when we played the intramural final in Assembly. Hornsby was on our team but, no offense to him, he probably wasn’t the best player on the team! We did lose the final, unfortunately.

Next time you are nearby, holidays and that stuff, let me know. It would be cool to grab a drink. Hit me up on Facebook or something bro!

Southern_Indianas_Finest

Sup bro, sorry about the delay but I’ve been abroad and I didn’t want to upset Alex or the other ITH crew by playing catch-up on the boards. Glad to hear from you and see you are doing really well.

Funny you mention Erwin, he was my roomie for a year when I moved from Bloomington to Indy. What was his name on here? I’d like to find him and his witty posts.

I’m living in the Louisville Highlands and battling UK fans left and right. I just took a job at Clark Memorial in Indiana. Getting married in June.

I wish we had been able to play some ball! I’m terrible but our team was awesome. That’s our picture on the left taken when we played the intramural final in Assembly. Hornsby was on our team but, no offense to him, he probably wasn’t the best player on the team! We did lose the final, unfortunately.

Next time you are nearby, holidays and that stuff, let me know. It would be cool to grab a drink. Hit me up on Facebook or something bro!